15 years of Tokyo Fox! Who’d have thought that would happen?! Not I! It began in February 2006 as a fun pun-based place to keep an online journal to let friends and family back home know what things were like for me living and working in Japan. It really has been a labour of love at times to have kept this site going for 15 years given that so many others have come and gone in that time. Furthermore, this blogging business all started in an era before social media and YouTube had become the beasts they are today.

It’s probably fair to say that the randomness of the Tokyo Fox blog hasn’t helped it grow as much as it would have had the focus been on just one of two of the topics covered in this A-Z post. That’s all down to the stubbornness of the writer though for wanting to write about various things of interest to him rather than chasing hits by producing more clickbait-like content.

Click here to read ‘The A-Z Of Tokyo Fox Celebrating 15 Years of Blogging (Part 1)’

N is for Nagoya – Japan’s fourth biggest city is one that is often forgotten about by tourists and Japanese residents alike. It’s rarely anything more than just passing through or a quick stop to see the castle but in it’s one that I’ve grown to really like which may have something to do with it still being relatively untouched in terms of online content.

O is for On The Fox Trail – This surprisingly popular series was never actually planned in advance but just came about on the back of visiting a few fox-related places (Zao Fox Village, Fushimi Inari Shrine, Oji) and after those one lady sent me a book called ‘The Fox And The Jewel‘ by Karen A. Smyers which opened my eyes up to various other places of similar interest in Japan.

P is for Prefectures – There are 47 prefectures in Japan and I’ve been to 36 of them so far. Travel content has always been a huge part of this site and though it was mostly overseas stuff in the early years, domestic travel has dominated ever since. The Tohoku region north of Tokyo has been one area I’ve loved exploring in recent times. That was until Coronavirus put paid to that!

Q is for Quirky Japan – Weird and wonderful dishes, snacks, exhibitions, theme parks, promotions, buildings, inventions and Japanglish just keep on coming in this country. It really is quite relentless and there is always something strange that is considered newsworthy, particularly for people in the western world.

R is for Reviews – The films ‘set’ in Japan series of reviews have been ongoing for the majority of my blogging days with over 60 movies getting deep, critical and insightful analysis from yours truly!

S is for Star Wars – The greatest movie franchise of all time really helped take Tokyo Fox to a new level (albeit a fairly low one still!) on the back of the filming locations from Tunisia and then Spain, Italy and the UK! Content increased after the Disney takeover as the release of many new movies meant there were all kinds of promotions in Japan whether they be exhibitions, snacks or cosplay opportunities!

T is for Temples (& Shrines) – Who’d have thought that such places would be so common on this site given my general lack of religious interest and faith in the past. Very few trips seem to not feature at least one place of worship and I have at times travelled some extreme distances just to see a unique temple.

U is for Unique Content – I like to think the majority of stuff on this site is different to what can be found elsewhere online. However, people aren’t always so interested in such stuff and I do sometimes just think I should go with constant listings posts (10 things not to do in Japan, 5 places you must see, what to do before coming to Japan, eating at convenience stores etc.)

V is for Vending Machines – Japan is certainly the land of such automated machines and just about anything can be purchased from them. The vast majority of them sell drinks but there’s also hot food, snacks, ice cream, newspapers, beer, cigarettes, fruit, eggs, toys, fortune papers, sexual aids and so on.

W is for the Wolverine – I never really had any interest in the X-Men universe but as soon as I heard that ‘The Wolverine‘ (2013) spin-off movie was being filmed in Japan my ears pricked up and I ended up hunting down pretty much every locale in Tokyo, Fukuyama, Tomonoura, Omishima and even Sydney in Australia!

X is for X-Rated – This is generally a family friendly place but every so often there is some more risqué content, usually connected to the anatomy whether they be on show at quirky temples or in weird museums!

Y is for Yummy food – Stop groaning! It was hard to think of a good ‘Y’ so rather than choosing a place starting with that letter I opted for a food-related word I never use! I shouldn’t discount the importance of food to this site though. The ‘Dining Out’ series started out by looking at unique international restaurants in Tokyo but in recent years it has just become a trawl through some of the least glamorous places to eat out at!! Oh and delicious ramen restaurants too!

Z is for Platform Zeros – There’s something slightly mystical and Harry Potter-like about platform zeros and one has to wonder why some stations have them whether it be because it’s been added on that particular side of Platform 1 or just because they began their numbering from zero! There are 43 of them in Japan across 24 prefectures. Surely I couldn’t could I?!

Click here to read ‘The A-Z Of Tokyo Fox Celebrating 15 Years of Blogging (Part 1)’ 

Click here to read ’15 Years Of Tokyo Fox: The Posts With The “Most” Hits For Each Year’

Click here to read ’15 Years Of Tokyo Fox: The Posts With The “Least” Hits For Each Year’